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Human Behavior

Anthony Fauci, the great ‘humanist,’ sets U.S. sailing on globalist, anti-freedom course – Washington Times

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Anthony Fauci, along with his agency colleague, the epidemiologist David Morens, warned in a report in the science journal Cell that if humans dont make significant changes in all activities, that more diseases more terrible health issues like COVID-19 will soon come.

Beware this report. Its a globalist dream come true, a real treatise for elites to control nearly every facet of human activity, human life, human freedoms.

Think thats hyperbole? Read on.

Its called Emerging Pandemic Diseases: How We Got to COVID-19, and its presented as a scientific look at why were where we are today with the coronavirus, and more importantly, what we can do to keep from facing such dramatic disease-tied devastations in the future.

But a better title might be, How to Take Over the World, One Medical Fear At a Time.

Heres an example of why to worry: [I]n looking at the recent spate of deadly emergencies [avian influenza, MERS, COVID-19] we must now ask whether human behaviors that perturb the human-microbial status quo have reached a tipping point that forecasts the inevitability of an acceleration of disease emergencies, Fauci and Morens wrote.

They go on to ponder the land-use and human activities that have perhaps contributed to these disease emergencies like forestry burns, over-fishing, urban crowding, the gathering of fans at sporting events, and human relocations around the globe. Like, almost everything humans do.

And then they conclude this: Living in greater harmony with nature will require changes in human behavior as well as other radical changes that may take decades to achieve: rebuilding the infrastructures of human existence, from cities to homes to workplaces, to water and sewer systems, to recreational and gatherings venues.

Say what?

Theyre advocating a complete overhaul of how humans live. So that humans can better co-exist with nature. So that humans, by doing all those nature-disturbing, nature-destroying activities, wont in the process bring abut more diseases and deadly viruses.Its like the Green New Deal for the health world.

Weve entered a pandemic era, and vaccines and drugs can only go so far, dont you know, Fauci and Morens wrote.

Everything must change. Everything.

Evidence suggests that SARS, MERS and COVID-19 are only the latest examples of a deadly barrage of coming coronavirus and other emergencies, they wrote. The COVID-19 pandemic is yet another reminder that in a human-dominated world, in which our human activities represent aggressive, damaging, and unbalanced interactions with nature, we will increasingly provoke new disease emergencies.

Humans are the aggressors; plants are the victims?

Here are some of their suggested courses of actions: We need to strengthen the United Nations, they said. We need to bolster the powers particularly of the World Health Organization, they suggested. We need to rely more on the recommendations and collaborative findings of the global community to help steer humanity to disease safety specifically by preventing bioweapons development, they advised.

Team Fauci smarter than humanity. Smarter than God. And in Faucis case, he actually believes that.

That is to say: Hes an atheist. A humanist, really which is really just an atheist by a different word.

He was raised Catholic and attended Jesuit-run schools, but according to interviews he gave to TheScientist magazine in 2003 and again to C-SPAN in January, 2015, Fauci now self-describes as broadly and generically, not a regular church attender but rather someone defined as a humanist with faith in the goodness of mankind.

Thats great. He gets his moral compass from his own mind. He defines, based on his own determinations of right versus wrong, whats good, whats bad, whats virtuous, whats evil if, in fact, he even believes in the concept of evil on this earth. This is a far cry from what defines Americas government, Americas political system, Americas roots of freedom and greatness.

Founding Fathers, taking cues from the Bible, not only recognized the sin-filled nature of humankind but they also based an entire governing structure upon that truth. They realized that without a moral and virtuous people, restrained by standards of behavior set by a heavenly Creator, the limited government concept of the democratic-republic would fall. Individual rights would crumble. Big Government would take over. God-given would drift into the realm of government granted.

Fauci with this Cell journal call for global governance of human life is a worst-case warning for America. A wake-up call, too.

Hes a guy who gets his moral direction from himself, from his own mind. No need to consult God; no need to consider a higher power. No wonder hes recommending how all of humanity should live.

No wonder hes piggy-backing on the fears of COVID-19 to sound an alarm for more fearful, rather than faith-fillled, ways to live.

The danger is a world that takes his brand of science as sound.

The danger is an America that forgets this nation was built upon God, by the precepts of a Creator in heaven. The danger is a country of citizens who turn to fear-mongering medical bureaucrats and governments instead to lead.

Cheryl Chumley can be reached at[emailprotected]or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast Bold and Blunt byclicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter byclicking HERE.

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Anthony Fauci, the great 'humanist,' sets U.S. sailing on globalist, anti-freedom course - Washington Times

Human Behavior

Our social norms and values vs the role of law – newagebd.net

Benajir Anjum Chandni talks about the existing legal frame of addressing sexual harassments, the loopholes and suggests proper use of the legal tools to ensure a safe society for the women

RECENTLY an incident in Chittagong went viral in the social media. The incident was such that in day light, a young man was threatening a young woman of rape by showing his private parts publicly. It is quite shocking and unbelievable but the incident took place in the presence of his mother and sister-in-law. Living in a country like Bangladesh, a guy being unclothed, threatening to rape a girl in front of his mother and another female family member is showing where we stand as a society and the level of morality we are holding amongst our young stars.

Furthermore, we frequently observe an alarming number of rape cases now a days and the victims are from different ages. Unfortunately, baby girls are also not being spared from these acts.

Now the question arises, how are these keep happening? Why our values and morality are degrading day by day? Why there is no effective measures to prevent such inhuman acts? How can a young man get naked and threatening someone publicly? Where do we stand now as a society with such moral values?

As a legal researcher, it made me thinking that, how law can help to shape societys moral values? Do we have adequate legal frameworks in our country to address such social issues that are destroying our young minds? If we observe such incidents then we will see that girls and women are always being victims of such immoral behavior in our country. Therefore, the central question is that whether we have enough legal protection for our girls, women and children for such inhuman and immoral acts.

Law is essentially a set of rules and principles that control human behavior. Laws are primarily created and enforced by the state. On the other hand, morals are a set of beliefs, values, principles and behavior standards which are enforced and created by the respective society. However, the popular conception of the connection between law and morality is that in many ways the law exists to promote morality, to preserve those conditions which make the moral life possible, and then to enable men to lead sober and industrious lives.

In light of the above discussion, it appears that a number of laws in Bangladesh has been enacted to control human behaviors from any immoral acts. More specifically a number of legislations are being available to protects our girls, women and children from such immoral and inhuman acts.

For instance, section 294 of the Bangladesh Penal Code 1860 states thatwhoever, to the annoyance of others,(a)does any obscene act in any public place, or(b)sings, recites or utters any obscene song, ballad or words, in or near any public place, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three months, or with fine, or with both. However, what is interesting is that the most critical element of this provision, obscenity, is not defined. Which means that whether or not an immoral act in a public place is an obscene act is entirely a matter of interpretation. Furthermore, whether the described maximum punishment under this section is enough in current social context to prevent such acts.

Additionally, in the post-independent Bangladesh the Dhaka Metropolitan Police Ordinance (DMPO) of 1976 first addressed the issue of women teasing directly. Before that there was no specific law with regards to prevent eve teasing or immoral acts by harassing girls and women. Section 76 of the DMP Ordinance defines women teasing as, willful and indecent exposure of ones person in any street or public place within sight of, and in such manner as may be seen by, any woman, whether from within any house or building or not, or willful pressing or obstructing any woman in a street or public place or insulting or annoying any woman by using indecent language or making indecent sounds, gestures, or remarks in any street or public place.

In this section it has been declared that women-teasing is punishable with a maximum one year of imprisonment, or with a maximum two thousand taka fine, or with both. This provision definitely can play a positive role to control eve teasing which is a very common phenomenon in our country. Although this provision was initially enacted in DMP but, likewise, all other metropolitan police acts/ordinances made similar provisions to penalise the offence of teasing women in a similar manner.

Unfortunately, these provisions have no jurisdiction outside their respective metropolitan areas. Therefore, this becomes exclusively a local and urban based offence. A large number of areas are being outside of this provision to protect women rights and honor. Accordingly, it is now high time to take necessary steps to enact or introduce special laws penalising the offence of teasing women with a nationwide jurisdiction. Such new law can also play a very important role to shape societys values and norms based on mutual respect for all human being and more specially respecting girls and women.

Furthermore, in the year of 2000, the Prevention of Women Children Oppression Act, 2000 was enacted which was more important and stronger one to protect the vulnerable women and children of the country from various types of offences. The 2000 Act came down strongly on the oppressors of the women. This act, inter alia, defined the now-much-talked-about sexual torture and sexual harassment and this act greatly helps to shape the value and morality of the society by restricting any behavior that may cause harm to girls, women and children.

In the section 10(1), the law defines sexual torture as, if a man touches the sexual organ or any other organ of a woman or of a child by any of his organs or by any other objects with a view to fulfilling his illegal sexual desire, such act of the man will be termed as sexual torture. This definition, in fact, includes the attempt of rape or outraging the modesty of a woman by actual physical contract. The law punishes the offender with rigorous imprisonment of minimum 3 and maximum 10 years and also an indefinite amount of fine.

According to the section 10(2), sexual harassment is an offence that can be committed by not coming in actual physical contract to the victim. A rigorous imprisonment ranging from 2 to 7 years and additionally an indefinite amount of fine is rewarded for this offence.

However, the section 10(2) was abrogated when the law was last amended in 2003. A new provision has been added under section 9(ka) of the present law that states, if a woman is forced to commit suicide as a direct consequence of somebodys willful dishonor/sexual harassment/assault, then the offender will be liable to a maximum of ten years and a minimum of five years of imprisonment. The amendment actually denied the remedy of sexual harassment of non-contract nature. The new provision though punishes the offender, it will not happen until the victim is dead. A legal ridicule, indeed!

After the amendment of 2000 Act in 2003, there remained no legal provisions in the country addressing directly the problem of sexual harassment. At this backdrop Bangladesh National Women Lawyers Association (BNWLA) filed a Writ Petition (No 5916 of 2008) to the High Court Division. The Court, after examining the pros and cons of the problem issued their judgment on May 14, 2009 giving the government an eleven-point directive which will fill up the legislative vacuum in the nature of law.

In these directives the Court suggested a detailed definition of sexual harassment that included all other existing definitions of non-contract sexually connoting offences. It also incorporated the modern means of erotic insults against the women that are prevalent in our present age of information technology. However, though the ingredients of the offence of eve teasing or any immoral acts that hurt any girls or women feeling in a negative way are easily distinguishable from the order, although the court did not use the term eve teasing in the judgement.

On the basis of the above discussion, we can conclude by saying that, there are existing legal structures that can help to shape our societys value and norm and more specifically these laws can help to create a society where womens rights can be protected and respected. However, it is also time to review some of the provisions of law namely, section 294 of the penal code and section 76 of DMPO and other similar sections.

In addition to this, strict implementation of these laws will help to create a society where there will be respect for all; where our children, girls and women, will feel safe.

Benajir Anjum Chandni is a trainee lawyer and a research associate at Mahbub and Company.

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Our social norms and values vs the role of law - newagebd.net

Human Behavior

Trump Mocks Biden Mask-Wearing Just as New Research Shows Stricter Compliance Could Save 120000 Lives in US Over Next 4 Months – Alaska Native News -…

These are not numbers or statistics but family members, friends, and loved ones.

While a new forecast released by health researchers estimates that a mask-wearing compliance rate of 95% in the U.S. could reduce a projected death toll over the next four months by 120,000 people, President Donald Trump at a campaign event Thursday night continued to undermine the widespread adoption of face coverings by ridiculing Joe Bidens frequent use of a mask.

During Thursday nights packed rally in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, whichviolated the states mandate against outdoor gatherings of more than 250 people, Trumpsaid:

Did you ever see a man that likes a mask as much as him? And then he makes a speech, and he always has thatnot always, but a lot of times he has it hanging down, because, you know what, it gives him a feeling of security. If I were a psychiatristright?no, Id sayId say, This guys got some big issues.

In an interview withCNN, Biden said that its hard to respond to something so idiotic.

Trumps statementpartof a broader defense of his administrations coronavirus responsecame one day before theInstitute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IMHE) at the University of Washington announced its latest projection, which warns that under the most likely scenario, just over 410,000 people in the U.S.and 2.8 million globallywill have died from Covid-19 by Jan. 1. Such an estimate means more than 220,000 additional coronavirus-related deaths in the U.S. alone during the remainder of 2020.

The best-case scenario, which assumes a near-universal adoption of face masks, is just under 290,000 coronavirus-related deaths in the U.S. by the end of the year120,000 less than the current projection.

Under the worst-case scenario, which has the potential to occur if public health mandates are eased prematurely in favor of a so-called herd immunity approach, over 620,000 people in the U.S. will have succumbed to the disease by the start of 2021.

According to the IHMEs forecasts, which are based on a model that hinges on human behavior and public policies, anywhere from 100,000 to 430,000 additional U.S. residents are likely to die from Covid-19 in the next four months.

Whether the eventual outcome reflects the low estimate or the high one, say researchers, depends in part on the willingness of people to use face coverings regularly, along with other policy responses and behavioral modifications.

Several scientistssupportBernie SandersMasks for All Act, which invokes the Defense Production Act to manufacture and distribute three high-quality, reusable masks to every person in the country via the U.S. Postal Service.

95% compliance with regular mask-wearing and strict adherence to social distancing could save up to 120,000 lives in the U.S. by the end of the year, and as many as 770,000 lives could be saved worldwide in the same time period, the IMHEestimates.

Christopher Murray, director of the IMHE,lamentedto theWashington Postthat there are bleak times ahead in the Northern Hemisphere winter, and unfortunately we are not collectively doing everything we can to learn from the last five months.

In astatement, Murray blasted proponents of the so-called herd immunity strategy, which he said ignoresscienceand ethics, and if applied globally would produce millions of avoidable deaths, and is quite simply, reprehensible.

The science is clear and the evidence irrefutable, Murray said. Mask-wearing, social distancing, and limits to social gatherings are vital to helping prevent transmission of the virus.

According toinfectious disease expert Jeffrey Shaman, What happens the next few months really depends on what we do as a society in the next few weeks.

Ali Mokdad, a professor of population health,issueda reminder: These are not numbers or statistics but family members, friends, and loved ones.

Common Dreamswork is licensed under aCreative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. Feel free to republish and share widely.

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Trump Mocks Biden Mask-Wearing Just as New Research Shows Stricter Compliance Could Save 120000 Lives in US Over Next 4 Months - Alaska Native News -...

Human Behavior

In Peacock’s ‘Brave New World,’ Everyone Is Very Happy or So It Seems | Jen Maffessanti – Foundation for Economic

What do people need to be happy?

In the new Peacock original series Brave New World, as well as the 1932 Aldous Huxley novel its based on, happiness in the fictional society of New London is mandated by the powers that be. Everyone in New London is genetically engineered and psychologically conditioned to be suited to, and satisfied with, a specific role in their society. Theyre encouraged to the point of compulsion to engage in every kind of hedonistic indulgence imaginable. There are no difficult decisions to be made. And for those pesky times when discomfort or anxiety rear their ugly heads, the perfectly effective, perfectly side-effect-free drug Soma is there to smooth it away.

Everyone is happy.

Except that theyre not.

But why? Why, when every physical need is amply satisfied and every pleasure available and every discomfort eased, would people not be happy? Why would a worker kill himself in the opening act? Why would some citizens need the occasional reconditioning in order to bring them back in line? Why do the residents of New London feel the need for so much Soma?

Especially given that the fictional world of New London that Huxley imagined back in the early 1930s rather closely resembles the fantasies of luxury communism that have been recently proposed, its an important question.

Happiness is weird, which may seem weird to say. After all, we all know what happiness is. Dont we?

Broadly speaking, yes, we can define happiness as a general state of contentment with ones circumstances. Generally, people who are happy know and pursue their lifes purpose, they smile a lot, theyre meeting their basic needs for survival, theyre able to give and receive gifts and attention without resentment, and are free of strife.

But thats not all that we need to be happy. For a lot of people, not having to fuss with making decisions about difficult thingsor even easy things!sounds pretty relaxing. Never having to hear, see, or otherwise experience activities or ideas they find objectionable feels comforting. A place for everyone and everyone in their place with no worry about whether or not its what they want to be doing with their life appears neat, clean, and ideal. Surely, this is what happiness for everyone looks like.

And maybe, just maybe, it would be nice, for a little while. Just like a vacation is nice, for a little while. When bills are due and stress levels are high and the kids are asking whats for dinner, yes, I certainly understand the appeal.

But I wouldnt want to live my entire life that way. And in practice, highly-controlled societies like the Soviet Union or modern-day North Korea, where what you do, what you consume, where you go, and who you do it all with is decided by someone else, happiness tends to be in pretty short supply.

This is because happiness is intrinsically tied to personal choice and autonomy. Its about feeling like you have control over your own life. Material comforts are nice and all, but they dont seem to have that big of an impact on peoples happiness levels. But studies have shown that autonomy is the number one predictor of happiness.

And it is autonomy thats conspicuously missing from the fictional society of New London and from real-life command-and-control societies around the world.

But maybe having an easy, cushy life would still be better, if we were able to arrange it so a certain measure of autonomy could be accommodated. After all, its so distressing to worry about bills and dealing with people who dont agree with you, to deal with anxiety and pain. Wouldnt we be better if we could eliminate those things?

No, not really.

And it isnt as though we havent tried. We have. Certain portions of American society have worked very hard to eliminate psychological discomfort with intellectual coddling, safe spaces, and a hyper-focus on self-esteem.

The result is millions of people who dont know how to handle adversity or discomfort. The result is fragility. Our society, broadly speaking, is wealthier, healthier, and more comfortable than its ever been, and yet, more people are struggling with anxiety than ever before.

The human psyche doesnt actually do well with perfect comfort and zero difficulty. It isnt particularly pleasant, but distress, discomfort, and disorder can be good for us. Adversity actually makes us stronger. Author Nassim Nicolas Taleb coined the term antifragile to describe this phenomenon. He explains:

Some things benefit from shocks; they thrive and grow when exposed to volatility, randomness, disorder, and stressors and love adventure, risk, and uncertainty. Yet, in spite of the ubiquity of the phenomenon, there is no word for the exact opposite of fragile. Let us call it antifragile. Antifragility is beyond resilience or robustness. The resilient resists shocks and stays the same; the antifragile gets better.

And the human psyche is antifragile.

Even if it were possible to perfectly control our social environment to shield ourselves from conflict and experience only pleasurable interactions like in New Londonand, to be clear, it emphatically isnt possibleour world itself is a chaotic, largely unpredictable place. As we are all too keenly aware right now, disease and natural disasters are always a possibility, even if nothing else were on the table.

Disruptions to supply lines, changes in our understanding of the natural world, or simply growing up are all shocks to our systems. If we dont allow ourselves to experience and become accustomed to the discomfort of change, not only will we as individuals and as a society stagnate, we will become so fragile that a single hammer-blow of unanticipated hardship could shatter us.

Happiness cannot be engineered. Humans cannot have allor even a slim majorityof their choices made for them and still be happy. Autonomythat is, freedomis necessary for human happiness.

While the psychological research on this might be relatively recent, this wisdom did not escape early 20th-century economists. Economics is, after all, at its core, the study of human behavior and interaction. Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises wrote in his book Liberalism in 1927,

It is impossible, in the long run, to subject men against their will to a regime that they reject. Whoever tries to do so by force will ultimately come to grief, and the struggles provoked by his attempt will do more harm than the worst government based on the consent of the governed could ever do. Men cannot be made happy against their will.

The tendency of so many generally-well-meaning people, from academics to helicopter parents, to socially engineer a perfectly happy society with no strife, no discord, no struggle will always have the opposite effect. The attempts to fix the problems with human nature will always backfire.

People cant be forced into being better. People cannot be forced into being happy.

And while freedom is no guarantee of happiness, it is essential if we are ever to be able to find it on our own.

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In Peacock's 'Brave New World,' Everyone Is Very Happy or So It Seems | Jen Maffessanti - Foundation for Economic

Human Behavior

We’re in the ‘pandemic era’ now, and the solution is for us to live ‘in greater harmony with nature’, Fauci says – TheBlaze

In a report co-authored by Dr. Anthony Fauci and David M. Morens of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, they write that the world is now in a "pandemic era" and suggest that the only solution is to live "in greater harmony with nature."

The remarks are part of a 16-page report in Cell that was published in August titled, "Emerging Pandemic Diseases: How We Got to COVID-19."

"COVID-19, recognized in late 2019, is but the latest example of an unexpected, novel, and devastating pandemic disease," they write. "One can conclude from this recent experience that we have entered a pandemic era. The causes of this new and dangerous situation are multifaceted, complex, and deserving of serious examination."

The report goes on to examine various pandemic diseases and the variety of factors that led to them, eventually getting to a conclusion that many of these "disease emergencies reflect our increasing inability to live in harmony with nature," pointing out that a number of pandemics have been exacerbated by "urbanization and crowding."

"Living in greater harmony with nature will require changes in human behavior as well as other radical changes that may take decades to achieve: rebuilding the infrastructures of human existence, from cities to homes to workplaces, to water and sewer systems, to recreational and gatherings venues," Fauci and Morens write. "In such a transformation we will need to prioritize changes in those human behaviors that constitute risks for the emergence of infectious diseases.

"Chief among them are reducing crowding at home, work, and in public places as well as minimizing environmental perturbations such as deforestation, intense urbanization, and intensive animal farming," they continue.

Acknowledging that diseases spread much more easily in a world that is more interconnected than ever, Fauci and Morens conclude that humans must think through how to avoid activities and developments that may lead to the emergence or spread of new diseases.

"COVID-19 is among the most vivid wake-up calls in over a century," they write. "It should force us to begin to think in earnest and collectively about living in more thoughtful and creative harmony with nature, even as we plan for nature's inevitable, and always unexpected, surprises."

The World Economic Forum recently published an article titled, "5 things COVID-19 has taught us about fighting climate change." The first takeaway was that "the planet will not wait."

"We need to set bold and ambitious targets to drive change the planet needs," writes the author, Salesforce Executive Vice President for Corporate Relations Suzanne DiBlanca. "Coming out of the COVID-19 crisis, we have an opportunity to combine a safe recovery with a sustainable recover. The EU has led the way by proposing a green recovery plan, which will use digitalization to boost jobs and growth, secure the resilience of societies, and put the health of our environment first."

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We're in the 'pandemic era' now, and the solution is for us to live 'in greater harmony with nature', Fauci says - TheBlaze

Human Behavior

A Zoom Thanksgiving? Summer Could Give Way To A Bleaker Fall – Patch.com

Story by Carla K. Johnson, AP Medical Writer

As the Summer of COVID draws to a close, many experts fear an even bleaker fall and suggest that American families should start planning for Thanksgiving by Zoom.

Because of the many uncertainties, public health scientists say it's easier to forecast the weather on Thanksgiving Day than to predict how the U.S. coronavirus crisis will play out this autumn. But school reopenings, holiday travel and more indoor activity because of colder weather could all separately increase transmission of the virus and combine in ways that could multiply the threat, they say.

Here's one way it could go: As more schools open for in-person instruction and more college students return to campuses, small clusters of cases could widen into outbreaks in late September. Public fatigue over mask rules and other restrictions could stymie efforts to slow these infections.

A few weeks later, widening outbreaks could start to strain hospitals. If a bad flu season peaks in October, as happened in 2009, the pressure on the health care system could result in higher daily death tolls from the coronavirus. Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has said that scenario is his biggest fear.

One certainty is that the virus will still be around, said Jarad Niemi, a disease-modeling expert at Iowa State University.

"We will not have a vaccine yet and we will not have enough infected individuals for herd immunity to be helpful," Niemi said.

Fall may feel like a roller coaster of stop-and-start restrictions, as communities react to climbing hospital cases, said University of Texas disease modeler Lauren Ancel Meyers. Everyone should get a flu shot, she said, because if flu spreads widely, hospitals will begin to buckle and "that will compound the threat of COVID."

"The decisions we make today will fundamentally impact the safety and feasibility of what we can do next month and by Thanksgiving," Meyers said.

The virus is blamed for over 180,000 deaths and 6 million confirmed infections in the U.S. Worldwide, the death toll is put at almost 850,000, with over 25 million cases.

The U.S. is recording on average about 900 deaths a day from COVID-19, and newly confirmed infections per day are running at about 42,000, down from their peak in mid-July, when cases were topping out at over 70,000.

Around the country, a chicken processing plant in California will close this week for deep cleaning after nearly 400 workers got sick, including eight who died. And college campuses have been hit by outbreaks involving hundreds of students, blamed in some cases on too much partying. Schools including the University of North Carolina, Michigan State and Notre Dame have moved instruction online because of clusters on their campuses.

Several vaccines are in advanced testing, and researchers hope to have results later this year. But even if a vaccine is declared safe and effective by year's end, as some expect, there won't be enough for everyone who wants it right away.

Several companies are developing rapid, at-home tests, which conceivably could be used by families before a Thanksgiving gathering, but none has yet won approval.

More than 90 million adults are over 65 or have health problems, putting them in higher danger of severe consequences if they get sick with the coronavirus. Many of them and their families are starting to decide whether to book holiday flights.

Cassie Docking, 44, an urgent care nurse in Seattle, is telling her parents both cancer survivors that Thanksgiving will be by FaceTime only.

"We all want to get to 2021," she said, "and if that's what it takes, that's what we'll do."Caitlin Joyce's family is forging ahead with a holiday feast. They plan to set up plywood tables on sawhorses in a large garage so they can sit 6 feet apart.

"We'll be in our coats and our sweaters," said Joyce, 30, of Edmonds, Washington, who plans to travel to her grandparents' home in Virginia. "It will be almost like camping."

One widely cited disease model projects 2,086 U.S. deaths per day by Thanksgiving, more than double compared with today.

"In our family we will not have our extended family get-together. We will stick to the nuclear family," said Dr. Christopher Murray of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, one of the few models making a prediction for November.

Uncertainty is huge in Murray's model: Daily deaths could be as low as 1,500 by Thanksgiving or as high as 3,100. In a more optimistic scenario, daily deaths could range from 510 to 1,200 if nearly everyone wears masks. A more pessimistic scenario? From 2,700 to 6,500 daily deaths if social distancing rules continue to be lifted and are not reimposed.

With all the uncertainty, most disease modelers aren't looking that far ahead at least officially. Jeffrey Shaman, a public health expert at Columbia University, thinks the virus will spread more easily as the weather forces people indoors: "But what level of a bump? That's hard to say."

At Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, computer scientist Roni Rosenfeld's team uses machine learning to project COVID-19 deaths. The team's computer algorithm learns from patterns it finds in state and county data to improve its forecasts.

A five-time winner of a CDC competition for predicting flu season activity, Rosenfeld thinks his model's COVID-19 projections aren't very useful beyond four weeks because of the wild card of human behavior, including that of government officials.

"What happens very much depends on us," he said. "People, myself included, don't always behave rationally." Presented with the same facts, "the same person might behave differently depending on how sick and tired they are of the situation."

Like other disease modelers, Rosenfeld said the virus will still be with us at Thanksgiving, readily spreading at family gatherings. While his plans may yet change, he said he is going to travel with his wife to visit their adult children. They will wear masks and keep a safe distance during the visit.

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A Zoom Thanksgiving? Summer Could Give Way To A Bleaker Fall - Patch.com

Genetics

Teen who was told he would never sit an exam prepares to start genetics course at UCD – Irish Examiner

A teenager with autism who was told he was unlikely to ever sit a state exam has been offered a college place to study genetics.

He is determined to find out why his parents - who don't have autism - had four children on the spectrum.

Tristan Lennon from Mornington, Co Meath is getting ready to take his place at University College Dublin (UCD) after securing the extra points he needed through a post leaving certificate course (PLC). The 18-year-old student is encouraging people to take a PLC course, even if they receive the points they need for their preferred course, as he said it gives you the grounding you need for college life.

Tristan's mum Carol was told before his Junior Certificate that it was unlikely that he would ever sit a state exam. She fought to get the additional resources he needed to have the same chance as any other pupil.

"He needed one-on-one help in a lot of subjects so we were told he wasn't expected to sit any state exams due to his needs but I insisted and persisted and, just two days before the Junior Certificate, he was given all he needed as emergency measures," she said.

"And he did really well.

"Again, before the Leaving Certificate, we were told there was no resource accommodation available and again I pulled out all the stops to get it for him."

Tristan, now 18, missed out on the points he needed to get straight into his course but did a PLC, receiving ten distinctions and enough extra merits to get his place in the genetics course in UCD through the CAO round zero.

Tristan was one of 4,411 applicants to receive 5,432 offers for third-level places through the CAO round zero in early August.

Those who fall into the round zero category include graduate entry medicine applicants, additional mature applicants, deferred and access applicants, as well as those presenting QQI FET/FETAC qualifications for courses with a quota for such applicants.

"He has come a long way. We didn't think he would get on the train independently to go to his work experience in Dublin as part of the course but he did and he even stood up to a gang who assaulted him on his first journey," his proud mum said.

Four of Carol's five children have been diagnosed with autism. She has fought hard for extra services for her children over the years.

I've learned that you have to fight and fight hard to be heard when you have a child with autism in Ireland.

"And I'm very proud of where my children are today because of any supports and resources that I've fought for to help them to get the chance they deserve in life."

Tristan has encouraged everyone to consider a PLC course, even if they get the points they need for their preferred couse.

"The PLC gave me a grounding of how college worked and taught me how to commute independently and how to start independently learning," he said.

"Now I'm ready to concentrate solely on my course. My current interest is in genetics and I would like to research if there is a concrete link between the make-up of genes and disabilities.

"I'd love to find out why my parents, who don't have autism, had four out of five children with autism."

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Teen who was told he would never sit an exam prepares to start genetics course at UCD - Irish Examiner

Genetics

Coming Home to the Klamath – Hakai Magazine

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Four aging dams on the Klamath River are coming down. Their completion between 1921 and 1964 brought hydroelectric power to Northern California. It also blocked hundreds of kilometers of fish habitat, causing chinook salmon to effectively disappear from the upper river basin. But the removal of dams is no guarantee the fish will return, so a team of wildlife researchers hopes it can coax the fish to repopulate the river by exploiting a new discovery about salmon genetics.

The Klamath was once the third-largest salmon-producing river in the United States, and its fish are still prized by Indigenous tribes that live along its winding path. In the Klamath, as in many other rivers, chinook salmon come in two main types: spring-run and fall-run. Spring-run fish start their migration from the rivers estuary four to six months before their fall-run cousins, and their return spawning run takes them farther up the river. Over time, however, human activities including mining, agriculture, and dam construction all but swept spring-run fish from the upper Klamath. Today, only the fall run of chinook salmon is large enough to support fishing.

Though dam removal has yet to beginthat wont come for at least another yearJohn Carlos Garza and Anne Beulke are already investigating how to replenish spring-run chinook in the upper reaches of the Klamath River Basin. Garza is a geneticist with the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations Southwest Fisheries Science Center and a researcher at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where Beulke is pursuing doctoral studies. Their research was motivated by a mystery of salmon behavior.

People have long recognized spring- and fall-run patterns, but scientists couldnt actually explain what caused this distinction. We found these curious patterns again and again, Garza says, even though they were the same type of salmon. Once they acquired the technology to quickly sequence fish DNA, however, the scientists started analyzing the genes of salmon that spawned at different times. We found a single region in the genome thats responsible for the difference between early- and late-migrating fish, Garza says. This led them to wonder whether they could re-create the missing spring-run salmon by crossing fall-run salmon with those that have the early-migration gene.

Garza and Beulke are now preparing to apply their discovery. They plan to crossbreed and release hatchery-raised spring-run chinook from the nearby Trinity River with fall-run chinook from the Klamath. When the fish return to the hatchery once more to spawn, theyll crossbreed them again with more fish from the Klamath. With every generation, youll get fish with a higher percentage of their ancestry from the Klamath River, he says.

Ideally, Garza and Beulke should begin their project this September to take advantage of the 2020 spawning season. Their work was scheduled to start in March, but stakeholder agencies have been slow to agree. The current pandemic may influence their schedule, too. I cant even get into the lab right now, Beulke says.

Although other plans have proposed reintroducing spring-run fish from nearby rivers, Garzas method has the advantage of preserving the evolutionary history of the Klamath River fish. During his analyses, Garza noticed that some fall-run salmon included genetic descendants of the Klamaths earlier spring-run fish. Crossing spring- and fall-run fish from within the river, then, would enable new spring-run generations to also preserve the adaptive genetic patterns of their Klamath ancestors.

At this point, I like Carloss approach, says Kathleen OMalley, a geneticist at Oregon State University. Its a great opportunity to test the connections between a genomic region and run timing. There are a lot of variables, she adds, but its certainly a worthwhile project. It may take more years than anticipated, though, to actually get enough data points.

Garza is comfortable taking the long view. This is a process that occurs naturally, he says. Were just accelerating things. Within 10 years, we could have thriving spring-run chinook salmon populations.

After all, the dams have been up for 100 years.

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Coming Home to the Klamath - Hakai Magazine

Genetics

New Guinea singing dogs, renowned for their ethereal howls, are no longer believed to be extinct – Salon

Human activity on Earth has led to a surge in extinctions,which is what makes it so excitingthat the New Guinea Singing Dog, which scientists have thought for decades only survived in captivity, may still survive in the wild after all. The singing dogs, which can breed with domesticated dogs and are closely related to Dingos,are beloved for their ethereal, choral howls.

The study, which was published Monday in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, analyzed the genetic material of a population of canids known as highland wild dogs that were discovered in the New Guinea highlands. These dogs howled in ways that sounded an awful lot like the New Guinea Singing Dogs of the past, even though the species has not been seen outside of inbred zoo populations and the occasional exotic pet collection since the 1950s. Scientists became intrigued in 2012 after an ecotourism guide photographed an animal that looked like a New Guinea Singing Dog and, by 2018, a researcher was able to collect DNA samples from three specimens (two temporarily trapped dogs and a third one that had died).

The DNA results came back,and provided scientists with good news: These were not ordinary village dogs that had wandered away from their homes, but were direct relatives ofNew Guinea Singing Dogs. To be exact, the wild dogsshared a 72 percent genetic similarity with New Guinea Singing Dogs that are held in captivity and that genetic diversity among the wild dogs is probably a good thing, since all of the captive dogs are descended from seven or eight wild ancestors.

This news has major implications for how scientists and the general public can understand dogs.

"These dogs form a group with Dingos that appear to have separated from the ancestors of the average breed dog long before breeds were created," Dr. Heidi G. Parker, a co-author of the study who works at the Dog Genome Project for the National Human Genome Research Institute at the National Institutes of Health, told Salon by email. "They may represent one of the earliest forms of dogs."

She added that our new information about New Guinea Singing Dogs may shed new light on the domesticated dog breeds that so many people know and love.

"Studying this group of dogs may help us establish a timeline for the development of the modern breed types that are so popular now," Parker explained. "Not when the breeds were created by when the modern types of dogs became abundant."

Parker expressed cautious hope that the New Guinea Singing Dogs could be revived.

"We don't know enough right now about the size of the remaining population and how diverse it is. We hope that this will increase interest in these dogs and in preserving them," Parker told Salon.

Salon also spoke with James McIntyre,director and director of field research at New Guinea Highland Wild Dog Foundation, who conducted all of the field research involved in the study. He explained that New Guinea Singing Dogs are very different from the domesticated variety to which so many of us have grown accustomed.

"if you looked at it from a relative distance, you would say, 'Oh, that's a dog,' but if you were to get a little bit closer, there's something very unique about it," McIntyre told Salon. "And you would probably ask somebody, 'Hey, what kind of dog is that?' Because there is something that is unique to them that you don't see and haven't seen. And a lot of it is the way their eyes are set and all that these dogs are extremely intelligent, athletic, flexible. They have a very strong predatory urge."

After noting that it takes a "special kind of person" to keep one of these dogs in their home, McIntyre elaborated that "they don't come when they're called. And like I said, they're very predatory, so you don't want to have a little Shih Tzu or your cat out when this dog gets out. It's just their nature. They're highly predatory. They're more cat-like in their intelligence and disposition than they are like a dog, and in their athletic ability they're almost somewhere between a monkey and a cat then they would be a dog. They're extremely agile."

Study co-author Dr.Elaine Ostrander told Salon that scientists had believed that the dogs were extinct in the wild for half a century.

"So the punchline is that people thought New Guinea Singing Dogs were extinct in the wild and this study shows that they, in fact, are not," Ostrander, an American geneticist at the National Human Genome Research Institute of the National Institutes of Health, told Salon by email. "This changes what we thought about dogs. We know that New Guinea Singing Dogs have not been seen in the wild for over 50 years. The only ones that we knew existed are in conservation centers and are derived from very small numbers of founders many decades ago. Those dogs are losing genetic diversity."

Ostrander said the discovery of a wild population gives hope that the species can be prevented from suffering a genetic bottleneck, both in the wild and in captivity. "The discovery that the Highland Wild Dogs are the original New Guinea Singing Dog give us hope that we can restore the breed/species to its previous genetic status and diversity," Ostrander said.

There have been other intriguing studies of canid genetics to come out in 2020.A study in Junepublished in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B revealed that London foxes could be unintentionally self-domesticating because of their close proximity to human beings. The physical signs included urban foxes having wider snout tips and smaller brain cases. Later that same month, a studypublished in the journal Science found that sled dogs like Alaskan Malamutes, Siberian Huskies and Greenland sledgedogs are genetically connected to an Arctic dog from roughly9,500 years ago. This more than tripled the length of time that scientists believed sled dogs had been around.

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New Guinea singing dogs, renowned for their ethereal howls, are no longer believed to be extinct - Salon

Genetics

Global Preimplantation Genetics Diagnosis Market to Flourish With An Impressive CAGR by 2020-2027 Know The Latest Covid19 Impact Analysis – Bulletin…

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Reproductive Genetics InnovationsReprogeneticsLaboratory Corporation of America HoldingsIlluminaPerkinElmerQuest Diagnostics IncorporatedGenesis GeneticsNateraGenea Limited

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United States, Canada, Germany, UK, France, Spain, Russia, Turkey, Switzerland, Sweden, Poland, Belgium, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, India, Taiwan, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Columbia, Chile, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa and Rest of the World

The global Preimplantation Genetics Diagnosis Market report covers the market landscape and its growth over the upcoming years and discussion of the Prominent Companies effective in this market. This report has been organized based on a detailed market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report delivers a 360-degree overview of the market, listing numerous factors limiting, driving the market during the forecast period.

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Chromosomal AbnormalitiesGender SelectionX-Linked DiseasesAneuploidySingle Gene DisordersOthers

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HospitalsClinicsOthers

The global Preimplantation Genetics Diagnosis Market is predicted to witness of enormous growth in the next six years. The growing level of competition among the players and the growing focus on the advance of new products are likely to offer promising growth during the prediction period. The research study on the global Preimplantation Genetics Diagnosis Market deals with a complete overview, highlighting the key aspects that are projected to surge the growth of the market in the near future.

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Global Preimplantation Genetics Diagnosis Market Insight and Forecast to 2027

Chapter 1Preimplantation Genetics Diagnosis Market Report Overview

Chapter 2Global Growth Trends

Chapter 3Market Competition by Manufacturers

Chapter 4Preimplantation Genetics Diagnosis by Regions

Chapter 5Preimplantation Genetics Diagnosis by Region

Chapter 6Preimplantation Genetics Diagnosis Market by Type (2020-2027)

Chapter 7Preimplantation Genetics Diagnosis Market by Application (2020-2027)

strong>Chapter 8Company Profiles and Key Figures in Preimplantation Genetics Diagnosis Business

Chapter 9Production and Supply Forecast

Chapter 10 Marketing Channel, Distributors, and Customers

Chapter 11 Industry Trends and Advanced Strategy

Chapter 12Conclusions

Chapter 13Appendix

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Global Preimplantation Genetics Diagnosis Market to Flourish With An Impressive CAGR by 2020-2027 Know The Latest Covid19 Impact Analysis - Bulletin...